Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

That 440 members of the Defence Forces will go on a UNIFIL mission to Lebanon is welcome, and I compliment the Minister on that. However, the thrust of my question concerned the provision for allowances for overseas deployment. The overall reduction for the Defence Forces in the budget was 20%, or €10.7 million. How will this affect the allowances of those members of the Defence Forces who serve in Lebanon? Will they receive a smaller allowance than those serving in Chad? What exactly will the position be regarding the remuneration of Irish serving members?

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